To My Granddaughter Kate upon her College Graduation

Hi Kate:

Glad you received our card. We are so proud of you! It takes a lot of perseverance to get through to your degree. I for one understand that. I wish we could have done more to get you through and to reward your efforts. Unfortunately, we are pretty much stuck with SS and a very small pension from Peggy’s company. The 08 fiasco pretty much finished off our savings, along with some blah decisions along the way. So be it, and no sense whining, right? As John Lennon once said: “Life is what happens when you’re making other plans.”

That’s an interesting statement to reflect on from the perspective of age 75. With regard to your future plans, you never know where you’ll wind up for sure. Of all the guys in my HS group, only one wound up where he had planned, and that was Paul Switzer, who wanted to be a Dr. and stuck to it all the way through Med. school. His dad and uncle invented fluorescent paint, and so there was a lot of resources there, but even so, those of us who got degrees wound up in different areas than our degrees.

Strange, but I believe we come in with a life plan that we really don’t know about on the conscious level, and Life throws lessons at us to learn and grow from. Would love to have a chance one day to sit and talk to you about that. Sort of forewarned is forearmed. If you have a good concept of what it’s all about, your attitude really can make life so much easier when the tough lessons come. Sometimes you get into situations where Life throws you to the curb, and you think you’re about to die. Somehow you get through it, and 5 years later you realize the whole experience was a gift. What? Ahaha . See if you can remember that when you’re 75 and you’ll look back and laugh. Hey that old buzzard Grandfather of mine wasn’t all crazy after all, just mostly crazy….. hahah, just sayin……

I was really happy to hear from you. We never seem to get much chance to talk, everyone is so busy, and so much going on electronically …. arrgh! Maybe when we get out this Fall we can get a chance? Peggy has written her autobiography, and I guess I should too. Too much to tell over 75 years, so I’m going to give it a try. Maybe I can get a good start by the time I get out there, and can give you a copy. It’s been a pretty interesting trip, I have to say, with a lot of knowledge gained (a little late), and a lot of questions still to answer. You could write a novel about it (no one would believe).

I should have mentioned, I have changed my middle name from Thomas Leonard to Thomas Loquacious, which you can surmise has to do with talkative, chatty, wordy, which you probably already know.

We so much wish you well in the coming years. It will be a wonderful trip if you’ll allow it to be. I spent 25 years after college searching for the meaning of “Free Will”. One day, and a long story in between, I got it. And, like everything else you hear, it’s easy to say but hard to do. What it’s all about, is that this life is like a dream, and you have the choice to believe the things that make your life beautiful, and happy, and kind; or to believe the things that make your life ugly, and gray, and mean.

I wish I had known sooner, and realized the fact that what you believe makes your life happy or sad. How you approach things makes your life amazingly fun or a hard dismal fight. Your attitude toward what happens to you is 99% of whether it’s a good trip or bad, if you have good luck or bad. In retrospect, it is all a school; it’s all Learning and Growth for your higher self, your soul. Everything that happened to you in the past, and everything that will happen from here on, has something good in it. If you keep asking, what’s the good part of this bad experience, you’ll eventually find that good thing. It’s always there.

I can’t tell you what a difference in your life a great attitude can make. It can make a difference of living a life of happy adventure, or living a life of fear. Everything that’s lousy and mean and dismal comes from Fear, and everything that’s wonderful and loving and kind comes from Love. It’s your choice, your Free Will, your gift to choose or reject. No matter how tough things get, you will always win if you come from a standpoint of Love. Life throws tough things at you so you can learn and grow. If you ate gourmet meals all your life, you wouldn’t know what a good meal was. You have to eat some lousy meals to know what a good meal is, and know which to choose next time. Your life enemy will always be fear that generates all the negativity that exists. Love will always be your ally.

Well, there I go again, Loquacious Tom…… but, I want you to know that I Love you so much, I am so Proud of you…….and that I wish you a life full of Love, and Courage, and Fun. If you insist on believing in that, it will be.

What a trip you are starting out on, Kate, full of adventure at every turn. Full of beauty and happiness, if you look for it; Full of Love and Passion if you seek it. Like the movie, The Martian , Never, never give up! Love and Happiness is all around you.

Suppose you had a slave from another country, and every day you degraded him , threatened him, sometimes beat him, sometimes gave him barely enough to eat….. And then one day he was freed by his fellow countrymen. He found a wife , started a business in competition with yours . His family lived on less, three families to a house, saved every penny they could, under bid you on every job, until your business went under. In time he came to own your business by pricing competitively, grew his business. It’s called Capitalism. You had no income and gradually began to run out of money for your family. Meanwhile he and his countrymen came to power. They now ruled.

You had no choice but to ask him for a job…….how would you expect him to treat you?

The Hispanic community is growing rapidly in this country, and in the not too distant future will be the majority. In my experience, the vast majority of them are hard working, frugal, and have strong family ties and values. And most of all they have PATIENCE.
Anglos for the most part degrade them, take advantage of them, split up their families, devalue their rights as fellow humans……
When they take the majority, how will you expect them to treat you and your family, your children?… Like Anglos treat them?…. Like Anglos treated the Native Americans? ……
Our Common Bible says…. Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You…… Like the 10 Commandments….. It’s just Common Sense.

In my first experience as a blogger, I want to share what I’ve learned over 70+ years, what I think I’ve learned, some very interesting concepts, and maybe open up some hopefully intelligent discussions on a variety of things about this Life we’re in.

When I say discussions, I mean collecting some varied thoughts from you on different topics, but NOT hateful arguments. We all see things from different perspectives based on varied experiences, so our opinions are molded by so many different things.

That’s great for me because I never want to stop learning, and I do that by getting information I don’t already have. Hopefully, sharing some knowledge I’ve gained will add to someone else’s stockpile of information and knowledge. To get more knowledge, I have to utilize the knowledge base I already have. In my opinion, not using and acting on the knowledge I have been given is a Spiritual mistake of great proportion. I always benefit greatly from the knowledge, beliefs, and questions of others. I ask, then, that you share anything relevant to what I am posting, as long as it is in a positive demeanor. I don’t need you to call me an idiot, as I’ve already done that so many times in my life.

Yes, I did say Spiritual, because this Life has been a real trip, being dragged from a strict Mr. Science, kicking and screaming into another world I had only sensed inside me at some points in my life. When I was young, I had all the answers, but now in my 70’s , I’m not sure I even know what the questions are. I can tell you with all the honesty I can muster that the Spiritual experiences I am about to relate here seemed more real to me than sitting in this chair does. And, I have some unarguable proofs, that they have been real, as you will see as we travel on together.

I am sitting at my laptop right now typing this, but when you think about it, I could be in an asylum, staring at a blank wall, or lost in the “Matrix” somewhere. I honestly don’t think so. There is a logic to the lessons I’ve been given, which I hope you will see, including information, not about magic, but about how the mind and our Universe works. And, I am 99% sure, if you follow along, these “lessons” can make your life more enjoyable, more happy, more meaningful if you use them.

I am, after all, only the messenger, and not initially by choice. I am pushed (?) to share what I’ve been given so that others may benefit, even if “they” come and take me to the bin as my reward.

If you are new to this blog, make note that the sequence of my blogs runs from bottom, first, to top, last. Hopefully I’ll have a logical sequence to my blogs so they build a foundation for the following stuff, but it’s hard to know where or how to begin, relating to so many areas. So if you haven’t already, please read from the bottom up. It’ll make more sense. Also, take a look at my About, Credits and Intro at the top of the page.

If you have some things to share I’ll love it. If you have constructive criticism, I’ll appreciate it. If you want to be nasty, don’t waste your time, as no one will see it, because negativity doesn’t fit my vision. So let’s start (or continue) this trip and see what happens. And please remember I’m new at this, and :

The Mission is Unconditional Love.

Like this:

Why Do Bad Things Happen? (1st post)
Life is full of polarities: light and dark; night and day; health and illness; wealth and poverty; joy and sorrow, and all of the shades in between. If you eat gourmet meals all your life, you will never know what a good meal is. You have to eat some lousy meals to know what a good meal can be. In order to make a value judgement, you have to have something to judge against.

By design, Life is learning and growth.

Why Do Bad Things Happen – Part 2

My Granddaughter Mackenzie wrote a beautiful, heartfelt, FaceBook post on Suicide Prevention Week. This is my answer, as Life pushes my Blogging forward.

The “System” if you will, ( so’s not to offend the Evangelical Atheists) …the”System” seems to test you based on your ability to handle the 3 Tons of horse manure dumped on you right now, knowing that sooner or later you’ll dig out of it and come out the other side a spiritually stronger soul who can then empathize with others coming along a similar learning path, and help them to learn and grow as you have. Do you really think, if you had just cruised through high school without a care in the world, you would have any of the depth of feeling or empathy that you have now?

You can help with your beautiful heart through your talent for writing, through your talent and “feel” in your music. You are learning and growing, and by doing things like your caring Facebook post on Suicide Prevention Week, you can be, and you are :” A Bridge Over Troubled Water“.I Love You So Much Mackenzie!
Yer Grandpa Tom

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My Granddaughter posted a reply on Facebook regarding Suicide Prevention Week. You can see why I love her so much and can’t wait to see what she accomplishes in this Life.

LONG (but important) POST ALERT!Thanks to a lovely post from Brianna , I’m now aware that it’s Suicide Prevention and Awareness Week. I may be a little late, but here goes.
If any of you ever need to talk about ANYTHING, I will be there for you. I don’t care if we haven’t talked in years or if we’ve never even talked at all. I don’t care if you’re not having a life-threatening crisis. I don’t care if it’s four in the morning (if you need help I will not be upset if you call me repeatedly until I wake up). If you need to vent, I will listen and I will do my best to help you in any way I can. I will do my best to keep everything between us, like seriously I won’t say a word to anyone unless I feel there’s nothing I can do to keep you from actually hurting yourself or others. I will never judge you, no matter what you say. I’ve been there, I know how it feels, and I’m still here, so obviously I’ve got a little experience under my belt. Some wonderful people and resources have taught me quite a lot. I’ll be there to listen, if you need me to come to you or pick you up I will do my best. I will even make calls and get information for you if you need professional help but are scared or don’t know how to get it. If you need help, you can come to me – no buts! If you need my number (whether you’re feeling bad at the moment or you want it just in case for the future) message me and I’ll give it to you. You can even send your friends to me if they need help, I don’t care if I don’t know them. Everyone has some good in them, and we all deserve our place in this world, even if you feel worthless. Remember there is always someone who cares about you, even if you don’t think so.
Also, sometimes I’ve thought, “I could have all this pain in my life and some good times, or I can be dead and have nothing.” But I’ve learned to turn that around – why have nothing when you can stick it out for the good stuff, no matter how little that good may be? It’s something, and something is better than nothing. Challenge yourself to find positivity and light when the world seems dark. Stick around, you’re worth it.
Also, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-TALK (or 8255) and they have trained professionals 24/7.

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World famous, zoologist/biologist, and former Director of the London zoo , Lyall Watson, says in his book, Supernature, “Life is energy organized from chaos.”

If you take an Atom and blow it up to the size of a Football stadium, The nucleus, which contains 99.999% of the matter therein, would be a speck on the 50 yard line. The rest would just be empty space with some electrons dancing on the periphery. So if you asked any physicists, they would agree that an Atom is 99.9999% empty space.

“A neutron star results from the collapse of a massive star after a supernova.” (Wikipedia). The empty space has been squeezed out of its atoms, leaving a core of compacted neutrons with the electrons blasted off during the supernova explosion.

Wikipedia says: “A normal size match box containing neutron star material would have a mass of approximately 5,000,000,000,000 tons.” (5 Trillion tons) I have read estimates that two heaping tablespoons of a neutron star would weigh as much as the earth. Consider that A neutron star only 7 miles across would have a mass equivalent to our Sun. Lyall Watson said: “There is proportionally as much empty space inside the Atom as there is in the Universe.”

NASA photo of a neutron star (pulsar) in the center of the gold

So, if you squeezed the empty space out of your atoms, the remainder would be an infinitesimally small speck of matter.

Now take a moment and pat your head, and now your forearm, and take a good look at that forearm. If there’s no matter there, what is it? What are you?

The only logical conclusion from a scientific standpoint would be that you are an electromagnetic/nuclear force field giving the impression of a solid. There is nothing else there of any consequence, just an energy field. It’s the same energy that makes up the sun and all the other stars. It’s the same energy that makes up the moon and the earth rocks, and the oceans, and your dog, Bowser. Watson (1) says: “We are the hollow men and our insubstantial bodies are strung together with electromagnetic and nuclear forces that do no more than create the illusion of matter.”

So what’s the difference between you and the chair you’re sitting in? I propose there is a Life Force that organizes energy into form. A Life Force that makes you -you, and me -me. “The only real difference is that the atoms of life are organized.” Watson (1)

So maybe we are not an illusion, but we are certainly different than we seem.

Like this:

Life is full of polarities: light and dark; night and day; health and illness; wealth and poverty; joy and sorrow, and all of the shades in between. If you eat gourmet meals all your life, you will never know what a good meal is. You have to eat some lousy meals to know what a good meal can be. In order to make a value judgement, you have to have something to judge against.